Antelope Valley Gives Hall Top Basketball Job

James Hall, the junior-varsity basketball coach at Antelope Valley High the past two seasons, will take the helm of the basketball program from Skip Adams, who announced his resignation last month.

Adams guided the Antelopes to two Golden League championships and a record of 70-52 in his five-year tenure, but last year they slipped to an 11-15 record and lost to Lakewood in the first round of the Southern Section I-AA Division playoffs.

Adams, 43, resigned a month later to pursue his certificate in educational administration and because he “needs a break from basketball.”

Hall, 26, a graduate of Cal State Northridge, was an All-Frontier League basketball player at Agoura High in 1982 and 1983. He compiled a 25-16 record as the junior-varsity coach at Antelope Valley and has previous coaching experience as an assistant at Royal and Agoura.

“We’ve got basically zero starters back, so everyone else on my team will be from the JV or new,” Hall said. “We’ll be very young and inexperienced, but I think a lot of the teams in the league have the same problem, so it will be a rebuilding year for all of us.”

Hall teaches health at Antelope Valley, although Athletic Director Marcia Crooks said he might transfer to the physical education department.